Cagliari-Milan

By: Jeremy | April 3rd, 2008

Things are pretty quiet on the Sardinian front this week. After getting an undeserved point against Roma, the team must take another deep breath and cross over to the mainland to play a Milan team that is considered to be in crisis. Oh to be in a crisis like the ones Milan occasionally seems to have.

With Cagliaris stellar play of late and Milans horrid run that has it in a position where they might not qualify for Europe, this might be the week where we achieve an upset and win in Milan for the first time in pretty much forever. Cagliari has continued its stellar run through the meat of its second half schedule and sees safety as almost likely rather then a pipe dream. Milan is a team that is in panic mode because not only is it a real possiblity that they wont be in the Champions League, they might not even make the UEFA Cup. In Milan not making Europe as kind of like Cagliari making Europe. Its rare. The fans are clearly upset and they want Ancellottis head even though he won the Champions League last year. Sorry guys, but you cant win the Scudetto or the Champions League every year, so give your coach a break. Say what you want, but he wont be back next year although you can blame his underperforming players for their current position in Serie A.

Milan is in the process of trying to transition from a team with a bunch of brilliant but pretty much washed up or overhyped stars to a younger team full of stars all while maintaining its European participation. With the performance of teams like Fiorentina and Udinese, this is not the best year to try and transition and still stay near the top. Needless to say, beating Cagliari at home is a must this Saturday and really should be an afterthought in any normal year.

Cagliari will maintain its confidence after the draw in Roma and will head to Milan thinking they can win this game. With a full starting team available for them including the returning Conti, a valuable player, they have to be happy knowing Nesta and Oddo wont play for Milan. Kaka seems fit to return, but he is not 100% and either wont play his best or will be subsituted at some point. Anytime you can get Milan without a fully fit Kaka you have to be happy. I am a big Kaka fan and you cant discuss Milan without atleast mentioning Maldini who if he is not on your all time starting XI, then you have not been watching soccer for the past twenty years. This might be the last chance we Cagliari fans get to see him against our team.

With Milans poor home play this year, a game on the road against them can almost seem like a home game for Cagliari. After Cagliaris performance against Sampdoria which had to help them forget the dismal road perforances against Siena and Catania, Cagliari has to believe they have a real shot at getting points. At this point in the season, mentality is more important then your talent and Cagliari is a much stronger club mentally then Milan right now. Dont underestimate how important that is.

Simply put Milan is tired. They are in flux and the older players feel like their place in the squad for next year is not guaranteed. Second team players, who would be first teamers on most Serie A teams, arent getting the consistent playing time and feel like they must score a goal in any game they play in or else they wont ever see the field again. This uncertainty only helps Cagliari.

If both teams play their best, Milan wins as they simply have too much talent. The best Cagliari team will show up and with the Foggia, Jeda, Acquafresca trio on the field, they can and will score in this game. Milan cannot defend like Roma so there will be more space for the Cagliari offense. With Milan desperate to put on a performance and Nesta not around to anchor the back, this is another reason this will be an open game. While the motivated Cagliari team will be there, I am not so sure that Milan is really up for the challenge as they normally would be. They have all but written off this year and I think this can lead to a result for Cagliari. Again Cagliari seems to be catching a team at the right time.

Its games like these where if we can get even a point, safety is so much more of a possibility. We did it against a much better Roma side and I expect Storari to have the boys motivated again. He is and will be the key to Cagliaris success the rest of the year. With him returning to Milan to play against the team that owns him and allowed him to go on loan when they should have brought him back to play for them this spring, expect him to play even better if that is possible. Its going to be a great game. There could be a lot of goals scored but with Storari around, Ill keep it conservative.

Prediction 1-1 draw.